The Young Cat

Cats are born in litters of 2 to 6 kittens; usually they are three to four. When born they are blind and have no teeth. In a week, they open their eyes (they all have blue eyes) and a week later more or less they start to use their sight and sense of smell to orientate themselves, due that now they have the equipment for exploring their surroundings. At this moment, the mother starts to train its kittens, calling them if they go too far or if they get lost. Teaching them to play mixing their great instinct for protection with an extreme care. This stage is very fast. After three weeks, the kittens start playing encouraged by the movement of the mothers tail that catches so much their attention. Playing fights start and so does the joyful persecutions, where the role of pursuer and pursuit changes constantly in middle of the game. This seems fun, and it truly is, but it constitutes also the basic learning and preparation for the future adult cat.

The fact that they might never have to hunt or fight for food is something that doesn't matter. This playing attends to more profound emotional needs; it is so important for them, that orphan kittens lacking this stage of their lives tend to be more aggressive or frightful when growing.

Independent lives
When the kitten are three months old, they are already prepared to live independently, but continue enjoying of the company of their brothers and sisters and maintains yet, for the delight of their younger owners, a juvenile attitude in spite of being gifted with the basic weapons for surviving.

The adult denture appears between the four and six months, and at twelve the cat is an adult animal. From the six month on, the females are sexually mature, while the males need one moth more. Of all this, we can infer that the first year of life of the cat corresponds to more or less fifteen years of life in a human being.

The first five years are equivalent to that of a human youth; at age six the cat is already middle aged, and at eight he starts to reduce its activities, although some maintain their energy and desires for food hunting for a long time after.

The old cat
From nine years on, the cat is considered as old. It is possible for him to loose interest for hunting or the start chasing always the easiest prey. The sight and hearing are less sharp, and it is probable for them to show preference for more comfortable and warm places, like near the chimney and soft cushions. Evident signs of oldness are the graying of the coat, thin layering of the eyes, lack of shine on the hair, less amount of skin and more prominence of hips and spine.

The cat adapts incredibly well to the loss of sight and hearing. From twelve years on, he is old, however, as it happens with some humans, there are those that challenge nature and continue to have an active life until the moment of death.